To Catch a Wolf
by SapphyreSkye
Summary: A little hint of Tasuki and Nakago's past with a few toss-ups. I have to see where it goes as I write it. ^__^
1. Prologue: A Thief Strikes

Disclaimer: Usual blahdy-blah. I don't own any of the characters of Fushigi Yuugi, I'm just borrowing them. I do however own Adema and all characters not familiar to you.  
  
(*Would great appreciate any reviews, even bad ones, it's still a review! ^__^ *)  
  
**********  
  
Adema couldn't believe that she'd been duped like this. To play victim to a bandit, her brother really owed her big for this. She personally couldn't care less about what her brother, the Marshall-general for the region wanted with these bandits. He'd called in a lot of favors from her and many others to create a caravan train to rival the Emperor's. If this doesn't get those bandits' attention, nothing will, Adema fumed, chaffing under her heavy robes she'd been forced to don as a part of her disguise as the bride-to-be of a wealthy merchant. Aki rode ahead of her as the captain of the guard of this little farce. She glowered at his back and hunched down in her seat unhappily, glad to be away from 'prying' eyes. There weren't any eyes this far from real civilization.  
Why did I let myself get suckered into this deal? She fumed, rubbing an itch beneath the heavy robes. It's not like I needed the money or anything. I should have just said, "No, get a professional." But did I? No. Not at all.  
Her thoughts were shattered as the carriage she rode in jerked to a halt and she stuck her head out to see chaos had erupted. The bandits had apparently started attacking while she'd been thinking. Even now, they were quickly but efficiently stripping all the carriages and horses of their little worth in jewels and plating. They were looting in them as well, tossing the injured guards into a heap to the side and leaving the dead ones where they had been slain. She ducked back in, for once in her life, truly afraid.  
Merciful heaven, I'm going to die. Aki, Aki where are you? Are you all right? Why aren't you rescuing me?  
Adema flung herself underneath her ornate trundle bed, pulling the blankets off on the sides to hide herself as inconspicuously as she could. She knew they would come in here, it was the most ornate of the equipages. Sure enough, her hunch was right. Footsteps shook the carriage and she peeked out from the blankets to stare at a pair of feet and the hem of a coat. She twitched the blanket shut silently and drew back against the wall, glad she was still small at 14 years old, praying that she and her brother would live through this so that she could kill Aki. The man rummaged through the trunks, yelling instructions to the bandits outside and she heard gold and jewelry being tossed around and was suddenly glad none of this was truly theirs. The footsteps retreated and she listened anxiously. The bandits mounted up outside and their triumphant shouts made her sickened as she crawled out from beneath the bed. She sat on the floor of the carriage for another minute to be sure that the bandits had gotten far enough away. The only sounds from outside were the groans of the injured men. Adema hoped the bandits had left a fast horse. She'd have to ride back to the last village for help. With a plan of action firmly set in her mind, she quickly changed her clothes, fastening her shirt as she leapt from the carriage.  
"Adema! No, run!"  
Adema froze like a startled doe, staring up with frightened eyes at the men who held her brother captive.  
"I can't believe the great Marshal-General Aki Tamoe thought he could fool the Mt. Leikaku bandits with this little charade of his. So who's this pip? Your lover?" someone taunted from above her. Wind kicked up suddenly and there was a man crouched between her and her brother. "Kinda young for you though, isn't she Aki?"  
"Let my brother go!" Adema cried, moving towards her captured brother.  
"Brother, eh? How sweet," the man drawled as he stood.  
"You?" Adema gasped. "You can't be the leader of these ruffians!" He grinned at her. "You're just a boy!"  
And indeed, he was no more than a youth her own age. He was tall and slim, with fiery red hair and an impeccable taste in clothes. And he had fangs?  
"And what are you then?"  
"I'm a woman!" Adema snarled.  
"Not likely you little twit," the bandit leader chuckled as he stepped towards her. Aki was fuming, struggling against his captors.  
"Leave her alone Genro! Your fight is with me, not her!" Aki shouted.  
"Don't worry, I won't involve her, yet." The bandit leader reached out and grasped Adema's chin, nailing her to the ground with his amber eyes. "I'll just take this."  
Genro fingered the necklace hanging against her chest. "No, please, anything but that," Adema rasped out. Genro tipped an eyebrow. "It's valuable to me. If you take it, not even death will stop me from getting it back."  
The bandit laughed outright at her nerve. Then he yanked the necklace, easily breaking the clasp. Adema reached out with a startled cry to grab it back, but met only air. Genro now stood beyond her brother. He laughed.  
"Let's go men!" The remaining bandits fled behind their leader, shoving Aki to the ground and giving him few good kicks.  
"Damn!" Aki muttered as Adema helped him to his feet, casting a last look after the bandits.  
"Don't worry Aki, I'll get mother's necklace back. And I'll get Genro, too." 


	2. Not My Smartest Move: The Breakin

Usual Disclaimer: I do not own Fushigi Yuugi or any of it's characters. So there. However Adema is mine. Period!  
  
Please R&R.  
  
**********  
  
Adema wiped the hair out of her face and yawned despite the daylight streaming in. She'd been up all night scouting this place. It was a complex just off of the Emperor's palace and she'd been watching it for three days, since one of her informants had told her a man matching the description of the one she sought had been seen entering and leaving the complex repeatedly. She had decided to make her move tonight. Tonight she would get her vengeance on the Genro of Mt. Leikaku.  
  
*********  
  
Adema crept along the corridor silently. She was clothed from head to toe in black; even her raven-violet hair had been bound and covered for this night's work. All that could be seen of her was her shadowed and smoky gray-violet eyes. She moved with natural stealth, honed through years of practice. This corridor would end in a 'T' and she would need to take the right turn, leading into the men's wing of this complex. She came to the intersection, pausing to check for signs of life from either direction before slinking around the corner and making her way with carefully checked eagerness towards the rooms she wanted, the rooms that belonged to Genro the bandit.  
Cautiously, she slid the doors open, making sure not to leave it open in case someone went past. She moved slowly through the outer room, not taking any chances on ruining this perfect opportunity by alerting Genro to her interest in him, much less that she had gotten this close at all. She reached the inner door and had to bite her lip to keep from laughing in glee. She slunk into the bedchamber, reveling in the fact that this was going so perfectly. There, sprawled carelessly on the bed, was Genro, looking almost exactly as he had the day she'd first met him. His orange- red hair was a shade lighter perhaps, and shorter as well, and he was bigger amazingly. And there, resting in the hollow of his collarbone, was her mother's medallion. She seethed beneath the calm façade, wanting to scratch his eyes out for daring to wear her beloved mother's necklace. Instead she reined in her anger and focused it on her task. With painstaking care, she stalked over to the foot of the bed and slithered over the covers. She crouched, straddling him and carefully worked at the clasp of the necklace.  
Then suddenly Genro turned over in his sleep, pinning Adema's leg and arm beneath him and resting his head on her breasts. Adema had to bite her tongue to keep from screaming out in outrage.  
Calm down girl! You're almost done. Just get the necklace and then you can get out of here.  
She carefully got the clasp open and worked the necklace off. She lovingly tucked it into her sleeve before settling herself to the task of extracting herself from Genro's leprous embrace. He yawned widely and stretched and Adema quickly kicked herself out of the bed, tangling her legs up in the sheets.  
"Eh, wha?" came from the muffled bed.  
Damn! Adema bounded to her feet only to crash into a table, sending something shattering to the floor. More shouts, confused and sleepy, came from the surrounding rooms. Double damn! Adema leapt up from the wreckage only to have to fight off an angry, though thankfully sleep-muddled Genro. She blocked his few vaguely half-hearted punches and made a mad dash for the door only to come up against an older man with hair that was clearly defying gravity if his silhouette in the doorframe was anything to go by. She leapt into a flying leap over the newcomer's defensive crouch. She rolled into the hallway wall and recovered herself enough to stumble a few more steps towards a window into the garden. She steeled herself and leapt for the window, feeling her leg protest as it was caught at the ankle. She was jerked sharply and her stomach hit the window-ledge. She yelped sharply in pain, trying to curl in on herself to ease the ache as she fought to keep her dinner down. She didn't have to fight long as her foot was released.  
She tucked herself into a clumsy roll and came to halt at the edge of a koi pond, gasping for air and trying to force her pain aside. All she had to do was make it another two yards and she'd be out, she'd have this fiasco over with. She stood shakily and limped towards the garden's wall. She reached it and leaned against it for a moment to catch her breath. Pain shot through her as she was pinned against the wall by a heavy weight. She cried out and was instantly released. She slid slowly to the ground, one arm wrapped protectively around her ribs, the other dropping to the ground to support her as she let her forehead rest against the cold stone. Someone turned her around and she squinted against the glare of the lamps that had been summoned. Genro stood in the crowd around her but it wasn't he who was attending her now. Now it was a woman in rich garments and a man dressed similarly. They were trying to work at her face coverings. Suddenly she felt very tired and it was hard to breathe. She reached up and pulled at the knot on the side and the strips of black fell away. She heard men muttering and a woman's shocked exclamation.  
"You beat up a girl!" the woman in the back yelled.  
"How was I supposed to know? Tasuki didn't say anything about it being a girl!" the man shot back, pointing at Genro.  
Adema leaned her head back trying to will the spots out of her vision as she regarded Genro accusingly. "You probably did it on purpose too, you selfish prick. Just to (cough) spite my brother."  
Genro regarded her for a moment in confusion before he came forward, pushing the woman out of his way to kneel beside her and smirk.  
"Well, little twit, I guess I shoulda taken ya more seriously in yer threats shouldn't I?"  
"Damn straight." Adema coughed again, clutching her ribs and sucking air in through her teeth to fight down the pain.  
"Sorry we were so rough on you," said a tall, tall man with more gravity defying hair.  
"Comes with the job," she assured him with an amused smile.  
"Well, you almost got away too, good for you, considering this is the Emperor's palace," complimented the first woman, the one in the vivid- colored robes. "Come now, enough talk, let's take care of these wounds and you can explain yourself later, since you two seem acquainted." The woman stared pointedly at Genro.  
Adema could only nod vaguely. She pressed herself against the wall and levered herself to her feet. "See, I'm fine." She smiled with weak triumph at the gathered crowd before collapsing. "I think I hit my head though."  
"That's alright child." the voice didn't get a chance to finish before Adema's vision swam and she sank gratefully into darkness. 


	3. A Wounded Thief

Disclaimer: BLAH BLAH BLAH! You know how it works by now. Adema=mine!  
  
**********  
  
Adema worked her fingers through soft silk sheets and wrinkled her nose trying to discern the pungent aroma drifting around her head.  
"Where am I?"  
"You are in a guest room in the Suzaku complex," came the concerned reply.  
"G'morning to you too, Emperor," Adema smiled wearily and opened her eyes to look up at Hotohori. Hotohori smiled back at her and leaned back in his seat.  
"Good to see you'll live."  
"Oh, I don't know about all that. I feel like I got tossed around pretty bad," Adema muttered as she sat up.  
"As you should. You fought past at least three of the Seiryuu Suzaku and that's no small feat."  
"Hey, she's awake," cried a small young woman in a strange set of what appeared to be a uniform. The girl came and sat on the edge of the bed, grinning cheerfully from ear-to-ear.  
"Miaka, please, she's still weak," Hotohori admonished, shaking his head with rueful amusement as Miaka turned that innocent smile upon him.  
"Hi there. I'm Miaka Yuki, who are you?"  
"Uh- Well," Adema mumbled, drawing back in consternation as the girl came uncomfortably close to her.  
"Miaka, give her some breathing room, won't you?"  
Adema sought the voice and found the woman from last night standing in the doorway looking extremely annoyed.  
"Oh shuddup Nuriko," Miaka shot back.  
"Good morning Lady Nuriko," Adema said softly with a bow of her head.  
Nuriko laughed, "Oh, I'm no lady."  
He pulled his kimono apart and Adema felt herself flush and sunk down into the pillows shaking her head.  
"Yes, she is awake, no da."  
There was a puff of smoke and then the man from last night was standing there. In daylight it was obvious that his silver-blue hair really did defy gravity. And his expression was one of the goofiest things she'd ever seen, unbelievably bland and happy.  
"That's Chichiri," Miaka whispered to her. Adema flashed her a thankful grin.  
"How is our patient doing?" This from a tall man, with yet more gravity defying hair, this time brown and short.  
"She's doing very well this morning Mitsukake," Hotohori smiled.  
"Where's Tasuki?" Nuriko asked from his perch at the foot of the bed. "And what was last night all about anyway?"  
Adema flushed as everyone's gaze turned to her. She reflexively reached to her arm where she had stowed her mother's necklace last night.  
"I believe this belongs to you. Tasuki explained to me the circumstances," Hotohori handed her the rope of beads and gold medallion and she hung it gratefully around her neck.  
"Did I miss much?" Genro asked from the doorway, a plate of food in his hands.  
Adema immediately tried to leap at him, only to be caught by Hotohori and Mitsukake firmly by the shoulders and pressed back against the pillows. She continued to glare at him as he moved cautiously towards the bed, holding the plate out as a peace offering of sorts. It wasn't enough, but it was a start. Adema let the plate be set next to her on a table and regarded Genro as he moved to take a seat next to Chichiri on a couch. Adema did the math in her head.  
"Aren't there supposed to be seven of you? I only count six. Who's missing?"  
"Tamahome," Miaka supplied softly.  
"What happened to him?"  
"He turned himself over to our enemies to buy Miaka more time to find the other constellations," Hotohori said softly, gazing at Miaka sadly.  
Adema merely made a soft sound and sat quietly in the midst of the silk-covered bed, feeling greatly out of place.  
"So why were you skulking around Tasuki's rooms last night?" Nuriko asked with lewd suspicion.  
Reflexively, Adema reached out and punched, not even realizing what she was doing until she'd done it. "Oops, didn't mean to do that, it's a reflex, sorry." She gazed down unhappily at Nuriko, who lay on the floor with stars in his eyes.  
"Wow, you should be more careful with that right hook," Miaka grinned impishly. "So what were you doing last night? Tasuki said the first thing he remembers was someone climbing in bed with him."  
"Who's Tasuki?" Adema asked blankly.  
"I am," Genro said flatly, not looking up.  
"Oh, well, it certainly wasn't what you all are thinking." Adema quickly explained what had happened two years ago. "So I've been looking for him since then. I found out he was here three, now four I guess, four days ago. So I made my move and got my mother's necklace back."  
She touched the familiar medallion like an old friend and smiled warmly.  
"And you got caught on the way out," Nuriko gloated from the floor.  
"I got in first."  
"I'm not surprised. After all, you helped me pick out the palace's defenses," Hotohori chuckled.  
"True enough," Adema laughed.  
"What do you mean by that?" Nuriko asked sharply.  
"Adema is a spy for me and on occasion a thief. All of you, this is Adema Tamoe, our cousin and Royal Agent," Hotohori said with mock formality.  
"Your cousin?" Miaka squawked.  
"It's very distant and he only uses the connection to call in favors where the Emperor would otherwise be powerless." Adema spared her royal cousin a half-hearted glare. "I am far out of the line of succession. I am also one of the best in my line of work."  
"Wh-oh-ow!" Miaka breathed in awe and leaned closer, driving Adema deeper into the pillows.  
"Miaka," Mitsukake barked.  
"Sorry!" 


End file.
